Display device



v l? 2 1933- AF. OSBQRN 2,127,930

' DiSPLAit DEVICE v Filed July 1a, 1956 INVENTOR v Asgsiosbom,

ATTORNEYS J'ecting arms.

Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHQE DISPLAY DEVICE Alex F. Osborn, Buffalo, N. Y., assignor to Magill- Wcinsheimer Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 13, 1936, Serial No. 90,435

13 Claims.

or other display indicia, together with a novel support for the sheet.

A form of display device now in common use consists of a sheet of'cardboard or the like having display matter on one of its surfaces and an easel or other supporting means cooperating with the opposite surface of the card to support it in a vertical or approximately vertical position on a counter or shelf or in a show window. One of the requirements for such a display device is that the cardboard be relatively stiff and self-sustaining and, in view of the comparatively short life of a display device of this character, the original cost of the relatively heavy cardboard, together with the inconvenience of handling and the expense of shipment, render its use very uneconomical.

The present invention aims primarily to provide a display device wherein a relatively limp or non-self-sustaining material may be conveniently and attractively supported in a taut or tensed condition so that the device answers all of the requirements of a display of this general character from the standpoint of neatness and attractiveness, and at the same time gives the added advantage of economy of production, facility of handling, shipping and storage. The invention also has certain features of interchangeability of display material, both separately and in combination with other display sheets.

The present invention involves a novel display sheet which in one of its forms is disclosed as being a loop or sleeve of paper or similar material; and a support for the display sheet having a base portion for resting upon a counter, shelf, table or the like and a pair of upwardly pro- The arms are approximately parallel to each other and spaced at such a distance relatively to the circumference of the loop or sleeve of paper that the paper maybe caused to embrace the arm and be supported thereby in such manner as to present a pair of opposed, flat, display surfaces.

The several embodiments illustrated in the drawing and hereinafter described are intended to exemplify the principles of construction and operation of my invention, but it must be borne in mind that various modifications and innovations may be introduced without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The permissibility of such modification is extremely important where, as here, the device by its very nature must, to be desirable, possess marked attributes of beauty and grace, not only in itself alone but in the manner in which it blends and harmonizes with its surroundings and with the component parts of the display assembly in which it is being used.

The details of configuration and surface finish of the device will, therefore, preferably be adapted to lend themselves to this end, and the support itself may be fashioned of any materials or combination ofmaterialsv having the requisite structural characteristics and possessing desirable qualities from the standpoint of beauty.

Several specific embodiments of the principles of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. l is a perspective View of one form of display sheet associated with a suitable holder or support,

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the support shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational View of the support,

Fig. 4 shows another form of support and also illustrates the principle of using the display sheets in combination with each other,

Fig. 5 shows a slightly modified form of support and illustrates one manner in which the present invention may be associated with a display box, and,

Fig. 6 illustrates still another form of the invention in which the support is composed of a plurality of elements which may be readily disassembled for a purpose which Will hereinafter appear.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,

the support member is formed from wire or the like. The support is adapted to rest upon a table with its terminal portions H and i2 bent upwardly and in approximate parallelism with each other. The intermediate portion iii of the wire provides a base or supporting portion which in the present instance is illustrated as projecting backwardly away from the front of the device to provide a more secure support. The upstanding portions II and I2 are in the present instance inclined slightly rearwardly, which brings their center of gravity more nearly over the center of the base portion and thereby lessens the possibility of accidental tipping of the support.

The display sheet indicated at It may be a loop or sleeve of paper or other suitable material which may be seamless in character or formed from a flat sheet of paper formed into a tube and secured with a suitable adhesive.

The support member of Fig. 1V is originally formed with the upstanding portions H and I2 constructed, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Figs. 2 and 3, so that they incline slightly away from each other from their juncture with the base l3. This is for the pur- Dose of creating an initial tension of sufiicient force so that, after the portions II and I2 have been manually flexed toward each other and the loop I has been placed over the portions l l and l 2, the latter will, when they are released, spring back to a position where they resiliently engage the inner surface of the loop I4 at diametrically opposite points and extend the loop 14 until it presents a pair of flat expanses of display surface extending between the portions II and I2. The various parts are normally so proportioned that when the portions II and I2 have exerted their full effect in flattening and tensing the loop, they have themselves attained a position in which they are parallel with each other.

In Fig. 4 several variations are shown which may be introduced into an embodiment of my present invention. In this case the intermediate base portion [6 of the support is formed so that it has rearwardly extending portions IT and I8 adjacent each of the upstanding terminal portions l9 and 20 and a central connecting portion 2| which projects forwardly beyond the plane included between the terminal portions l9 and 20. In this case the upstanding portions l9 and 20 may, if desired, be exactly vertical since the forward projection of the portion 2| prevents forward tipping of the support and the portions l1 and I8 support the device against rearward tipping.

The conformation of the base I6 of Fig. 4 lends itself peculiarly well to resilient movement of the arms l9 and 20 toward and away from each other. The portions I1, 21, and I8 thereof, when the arms l9 and 20 are urged toward each other, coact in much the same manner as the coils of a helical compression spring.

By way of illustration, two display surfaces have been shown positioned upon the supporting member of Fig. 4. It will be clear that any number of such surfaces might be used in conjunction with a single supporting member having regard only to the limitations of physical capacity of the upstanding portions 19 and 20. In this way a relatively small number of printed display members will be capable of arrangement into combination with each other in a relatively large variety of displays.

While the two display surfaces 22 and 23 of Fig. 4 may be of the same construction as each other and as the display surface l4 of Fig. 1, I have chosen to illustrate the lower display surface 23 in a modified form. The display surface 23, instead of being in the loop or sleeve form of the display surfaces l4 and 22, consists of a single expanse of sheet material having its lateral terminal portions bent back upon themselves and secured by a suitable adhesive or other fastening means to provide end loop portions 24 for the reception of the upstanding arms l9 and 20.

In Fig. 5 a display surface supporting member 25 is shown associated with a merchandise box 26, with the box resting upon base portion 27 of the supporting member 25.

Fig. 6 illustrates one manner in which upstanding arms 28 and 29 may be detachably associated with the base portion 30. The reasons for this construction are several. In the first place, it may be desirable to form the upstanding arms 28 and 29 of a material different from that used in the construction of the base portion 30. Thus, the base portion 30 might be formed of sheet metal of channel cross section as illustrated in Fig. 6, while the upstanding arm portions 28 and 29 are of glass or some other material which may, in many instances, make for a more attractive support for the display matter.

An important advantage derived from this detachable construction of the upstanding arms 28 and 29 and the base 30, resides in the fact that the user of the device might have on hand a certain number of bases of various length, and also a certain number of upstanding arms of various lengths. By using a base of the length desired with arms of the length desired, the variety of possible combinations is equal to the product of the number of base lengths and the number of arm lengths.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a base member 30 formed of a sheet metal channel in which the web of the channel has been notched at its terminal portions to receive upstanding glass arms 28 and 29. The glass arms 28 and 29 are retained in position in the recesses in the ends of the channel 30 by means of set screws 3i. It will be found that glass has sufficient inherent resilience to maintain the paper or other display material taut in the same manner as the metallic arm shown in the other illustration and for this purpose the conformation of the channel 30 and the notches therein is such that the initial position of the arms 28 and 29, when associated with the channel is such that they flare slightly outwardly. The display element 32 of Fig. 6 is similar to those described in connection with Figs. 1, 4 and 5.

In the various illustrations the upstanding posts have been illustrated as projecting above the display element, but this is for clearness only, and it is obvious that the posts may terminate flush with the upper edge of the display element and, in fact, need not extend even as far as the upper surface so long as they engage the loop sufficiently to hold it in proper position.

While in all of the illustrated embodiments, two posts only are shown, it is within the scope of the present invention to use three or more posts and have the loop extending about all of them, in which case there will be a separate, fiat display surface for each upstanding post, that is, there will be a separate flat display surface extending between each two adjacent posts.

While only glass and metal have been mentioned as material for the posts or the bases, any material possessing the proper requisites of resiliency and strength may be employed, and in the case of the modification shown in Fig. 6, a non-resilient base material may be used with resilient upstanding posts, or, if desired, the upstanding posts may be non-resilient if the base portion has sufficient resiliency to permit movement of the upstanding posts toward each other. In this latter case, the upstanding posts need not flare outwardly, since their resilient movement toward and away from each other would be in parallelism.

What is claimed is:

1. A display device comprising a display element consisting of. a loop of sheet material having a display receiving surface and a support including a pair of substantially parallel arms normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than one-half the circumference of said loop and capable of being flexed toward each other whereby, when so flexed, said loop may be caused to embrace said arms and, when the arms are released, they serve to resiliently hold said loop taut so that a pair of fiat display surfaces are presented.

2. In a display device, a display element comprising a loop of sheet material having a display receiving surface and a holder for maintaining the loop of sheet material so that it presents flat opposed display surfaces, said holder comprising a base portion for resting upon a supporting surface and a plurality of substantially parallel arms extending upwardly therefrom and normally spaced at a distance slightly greater than onehalf the circumference of said loop and resiliently movable toward each other for insertion in the loop to maintain the loop taut.

3. In a display device, a display element comprising a loop of. sheet material having a display receiving surface and means for supporting the loop of sheet material so that it presents flat opposed display surfaces, said sup-porting means comprising a base portion for resting upon a supporting surface and a plurality of substantially parallel arms normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than one-half the circumference of. said loop, said base portion being resiliently compressible between said arms, whereby the arms may be moved toward each other for insertion in the loop, then released to maintain the loop taut about said arms.

4. In a display device, a display element comprising a loop of sheet material having a display receiving surface and a support therefor comprising a base portion for resting upon a supporting surface and a plurality of parallel arms extending upwardly therefrom and normally spaced at a distance slightly greater than onehalf the circumference of said loop, said arms being of resilient material and flexible toward each other to permit their ready insertion in a loop of sheet material which latter, upon release of said arms, is held taut thereby.

5. In a display device, a display element comprising a loop of sheet material having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor comprising a rod formed of resilient material, said rod having its terminal portions extending substantially parallel to each other and normally spaced at a distance slightly greater than onehalf the circumference of said loop to provide loop supporting members and the intermediate portion of said rod being formed with portions thereof lying outside the plane included between said terminal portions, whereby said intermediate portion provides means for supporting said terminal portions in angular relation with respect to the surface upon which the supporting means is resting, said terminal portions being resiliently movable toward each other to permit their entry into said loop and said terminal portions, when released, serving to resiliently maintain said loop of sheet material taut.

6. A display device comprising a display element of sheet material having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor having a plurality of spaced substantially parallel arms,

said display element having portions adapted to embrace said arms and said arms being resiliently movable toward and away from each other and being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said embracing portions whereby the display element is resiliently held tautly between said arms.

7. A display device comprising a display element of sheet material formed in a loop and a holder therefor having a base for resting upon a supporting surface "and spaced arms extending upwardly therefrom and inclined slightly away from each othensaid arms being resiliently movable' toward each other to permit their entry into said loop, said loop being of a circumference approximately twice the distance between said arms when they have been resiliently moved toward eachother to a position whereby they are substantially parallel; Y

8. A display devicecomprising a display element of sheet material having a display receiving surface and looped end portions and supporting means therefor comprising a base for resting upon a supporting surface and a pair of spaced substantially parallel arms normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said looped end portion of said display element and resiliently movable toward each other to permit entry of said arms into said loop portions, said arms serving, when released, to maintain said display element taut.

9. A display device comprising a display element of sheet material having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor having a plurality of spaced substantially parallel arms detachably associated with a base member, said display element having portions adapted to embrace said arms and said arms being resiliently movable toward and away from each other and being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said embracing portions whereby the display element is resiliently held tautly between said arms.

10. A display device comprising a display element of sheet material having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor consisting of spaced, substantially parallel arm means and base means for detachably maintaining said arm means at an angle to a supporting surface; said display element having portions adapted to embrace said arm means, one of the aforementioned means being of resilient material whereby said arms are rendered resiliently movable toward and away from each other and said arm means being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said embracing portions to maintain the display element tautly between said arm means.

11. A display device comprising a display element of sheet material having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor having a plurality of spaced substantially parallel supports, said display element having portions adapted to embrace said supports, the portions of the supports engaging the embracing portions of said display element being resiliently yieldable at both ends and being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said embracing portions of the display element whereby the display element is resiliently held tautly upon said supports when released.

12. A display device comprising a display element having a display receiving surface and supporting means therefor, said supporting means having a portion extending generally laterally of the plane of the display element to provide a base for the supporting means whereby the display element may be held in upright position and a resilient wire frame upon which the display element is mounted comprising a plurality of spaced substantially parallel uprights, said display element having portions adapted to embrace said uprights, and said uprights being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than 4 the distance between said embracing portions of the display element whereby the display element is resiliently held tautly upon said uprights upon release thereof after mounting of the display element thereon.

the supporting means and a plurality of spaced substantially parallel uprights, said display element having portions adapted to embrace said uprights and said uprights being normally spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between said embracing portions of the display element and being resilient to permit confining by the display element and whereby the display element is resiliently held tautly upon said uprights.

ALEX F. OSBORN. 

